17 . 



winter, as do the ants themselves, and I tliink that they do 

 not grow at all during that period, because there would not 

 be any ants awake to feed them. It is in this larval state 

 that the ant does all its growing, for though the perfect 

 insects eat, they do so only to furnish food for the larvae 

 and to sustain their bodies during their work. When the 

 grub is full-grown, which in warm weather takes place in 

 less than a month after the hatching of the egg, it turns 

 into a pupa or chrysalis. The larvae of some ants spin 

 cocoons for themselves, whilst others remain naked and as a 

 general rule among our English ants those species which 

 have stings, belonging to the Myrmicidae, do not spin 

 cocoons, whilst those which have not stings, classed among 

 the Formicidse, usually enclose the pupa in a silken case. 



But there are several exceptions to this rule, for some 

 of the Myrmicidae are found to spin cocoons, and if the nests 

 of Formica fusca and F. flava are in a very sheltered position, 

 such as under a stone instead of a mound of earth, their 

 pupae seem to dispense with the cocoon, and in the same nest, 

 I think, some have been found with cocoons and others 

 naked. After remaining for a short time in the chrysalis, 

 the perfect and full-grown ant emerges, but in most cases it 

 requires some help before it can escape from the cocoon. 



Among ants there are three and very frequently four 

 classes of individuals, viz., the males and females, which 

 when they emerge from the chrysalis have wings, and the 

 workers in which the wings are only represented by a highly 

 chitinised spot. These latter (the workers) form the main 

 body of the community, and on them falls all the work. 

 Soon after the males and females have left the chrysalis they 

 pair off and start on their wedding flight, and this is the 

 only time they use their wings, for the males must soon die 

 as they have no means of providing food for themselves, 

 whilst the females after breaking off their wings by working 

 them backwards and forwards, settle down and hardly ever 

 again move from the nest. It does not seem to be known 

 how an ant's nest is started. 



B 



